Oh, the irony of this assignment. While I did not witness any of my co-workers deliver a microaggression, I was the guilty one. That's right, it was me! This past Monday morning when I arrived at work, I was greeted by the children in my room with lots of hugs. One child (a little Caucasian girl) was dressed in cowgirl boots, and her hair had been combed into two pony tails, split down the middle. While I did not mean any harm, the first thing I said out of my mouth with a southern slur, was Yehaw! I guess we will have to do line dancing this morning. As Dr. Wing Sue (Laureate Education Inc., 2011) stated, often times, microaggressions are not intentional, but contain hidden messages that can cause the recipient of the microaggression discomfort and or harm. From this statement, it was evident that I had developed stereotypes and biases about southern whites. My hidden message was any white person dressed in Western attire uses undignified speech and likes to Line dance. Fortunately this was a child who was oblivious to what I said, but now that I think about it, the Caucasian teacher in the room that speaks with a southern accent could have been offended by my comment. But thanks to this class, I was aware of what I had did, and verbally apologized to and corrected myself in front of the teacher.
The time when I was the recipient of a microaggression, was when I lived in Fort Worth, TX in 2004, but I attended church in Dallas. After church one Sunday, I and my grandson (2 years old at the time) went to a Denny's restaurant. Dining there also, was a Caucasian police officer. My grandson was moving around a lot like any typical toddler, and I was getting him to sit down. When the police officer walked past our table to leave, he turned and looked at my grandson and said, I'll see you in a few years! This was truly a racial microaggression, an intentional microinsult. This comment made me feel angry, offended, and degraded because I knew that he was implying that African American boys grow up to be criminals that need to be behind bars. This was a perfect example of racial bias and white supremacy. I can only imagine all of the racial profiling this police officer probably engaged in.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2011). “Microaggressions in Everyday Life”
Baltimore, MD: Author.
Hi Cheryl,
ReplyDeleteThe police officer wants to use his power to insult African American boys so his demeaning act to the little baby as a target was to humiliate you. The police needs to stop harassing any black male child because such harassment are anti-successful future. I think that African Americans face the highest racial segregation in the hands of the police.
Cheryl,
ReplyDeleteYour intentions towards the little girl was harmless. On the other hand the police officer's remarks were hurtful and intentional, premeditated . That was really cruel on his part. This course is kind of an eye opener in the sense that it has increased my awareness on microaggressions and since we can not change the whole world we can start with ourselves.